Chattering Mind likes to waltz into the family room to fold laundry during the last fifteen minutes of any televised sporting event. Often, this strikes everyone as obnoxious. But boy, did I get an eyeful during the last ten minutes of yesterday’s World Cup, when French soccer team captain Zinedine Zidane, previously known for his class and aplomb, was kicked out of the game for viciously knocking Italian defender Marco Materazzi off his feet with a head butt to the sternum.

It was a “red card” penalty that may well have cost the French the match; Zidane is a great kicker and the WC’s outcome was determined by penalty kicks, to say nothing of how the whole episode must have upset–bewildered? demoralized?–what remained of the French team. When your leader loses it, it’s always bad.